Questions & Answers about La Pasqua è il sedici aprile.
Why does Italian use sedici (sixteen) instead of "sixteenth" for the date?
In Italian, dates are formed using regular counting numbers (cardinal numbers like one, two, sixteen) rather than the position numbers (ordinal numbers like first, second, sixteenth) that we use in English. The only exception is the first day of the month, which uses il primo (the first).
Why is there an il before the date?
When stating a date in Italian, you must use the masculine singular definite article, il (the), right before the number. You can think of it as saying "Easter is the sixteen of April."
Why isn't aprile capitalized?
Why do we say La Pasqua instead of just Pasqua?
When a noun is the main subject of a sentence, Italian usually requires a definite article before it. Even though we just say "Easter" in English, Italian says La Pasqua (The Easter) here.